Puzzle Piece
by mariogocart
Summary: Kim Hae Won is a new trainee at Cube Ent. There, she experiences the hardships of training, makes new friends, and falls in love all over again with cutie pie Yang Yo Seob.
1. Chapter 1: First Encounter

I walked into Cube for the first time in my life, amazed at everything around me. It was all so beautiful, so surreal, so hard to believe. I took in everything with my hungry eyes, and felt them welling up with tears. My dream had come true.

Did you think I was going to say that?

No, I was late as usual. With my awesome speed and dexterity, I practically hurtled through the sliding doors of Cube Ent. headquarters, knocking down some poor guy who was just coming out of the building.

Great, my first day, and I knock someone down.

"I'm so sorry!" I jumped to my feet and bowed in apology, hoping that I would not be reprimanded.

"It's alright." A kind voice said. Strange, that voice sounded somewhat familiar.

I snuck a glance upward, and saw Yang Yo Seob dusting himself off, a half-smile hanging on his face.

Oh my gosh. Yo Seob. Up close, he looked more handsome than ever. Although I couldn't really see his face, since he was looking down, and his hair - dyed dark brown now - concealed most of it.

I jerked my gaze back down to suppress the fangirl squeal which was threatening to escape, and bowed again.

"I'm really sorry." I said before scurrying away. If anybody saw my face now, it would be plastered with a foolish grin. Fortunately for me, the corridors of Cube headquarters were empty.

Or maybe not...since it probably meant that training had already started. Cursing to myself, I dashed into the changing room and changed in record speed, before running to dance studio 203.

I knocked on the door timidly and pushed it open to reveal a group of 20 people, seated in a circle.

"Good afternoon, I'm here for dance lessons. Sorry that I'm late." I smiled sheepishly, hoping that it would take the edge off the trainer's anger.

The trainer was a tall, lean man. He looked kind enough. At least, he didn't seem to be angry at me for being late. He motioned for the other trainees to widen the circle so that there was an empty space for me to sit. I quickly walked over to the space and sat down.

"It's alright, we were just doing some self-introductions. But if you're late again, you're **dead**." His eyes suddenly turned cold as he emphasized the last word. I gulped.

"Y-yes sir."

"Good. Now, can all of you introduce yourselves again?" His face changed abruptly, replaced with a cheerful smile, which he directed at the rest of the group.

If anybody was annoyed, they hid it well. They merely started introducing themselves all over again, unnaturally bright smiles pasted on their faces. I guess I wasn't the only one who found the trainer's sudden face change scary...

After self-introductions, the trainer went through some basics of dance. Those were easy enough; I had learnt a bit of dance before, after all. After that was over and done with, he gave us a 5-minute break.

Not wanting to spend the rest of my trainee life alone in a corner, I quickly turned to the girl beside me.

She was tall, thin and pretty, and had long black hair, which she had pulled into a messy bun at the back of her head. She wore a loose purple off-shoulder shirt, which revealed the pink tank top underneath, and black tights.

"Hi! I'm Hae Won!" I said cheerfully, extending my left hand towards her. The girl seemed to have gotten a shock by my sudden exclamation, but she smiled warmly and clasped my hand with hers.

"Yeah, I know, we introduced ourselves earlier, remember?" She shook my hand twice, then released it. "Do you remember my name?" She asked, a teasing glint in her eye.

A pained look played out on my face as I glanced left and right. "Um...um..." I'm sure you know by now that I wasn't good at faces. "Min Ji?" I guessed, a brief memory coming to mind.

She burst into laughter.

I smiled awkwardly, grateful that she wasn't angry with me for forgetting her name, but also feeling like an idiot.

"Ah..." She wiped her eye. "Close enough. My name is Ji Min."

"Oh." I felt my face become warm. "Heheh. Sorry."

"Nah, it's okay. I'm just naturally better at remembering people's names." She gave a mocking arrogant look, and walked to the front of the studio, where there was a carton of mineral water. I followed behind her.

She took two bottles of water, and handed one to me.

"Thanks." I smiled at her.

"So...why do you wanna be a singer?" She said after a swig of water. I almost laughed at the cliched question, but it wasn't meant as a joke, so I didn't.

"Uh..cuz I like music?" I answered with an awkward smile. It wasn't that I didn't trust Ji Min, but I saw no point in telling her the long grandmother's story about why I wanted to be a singer.

"Uhuh." She raised an eyebrow at me. "Not because you want to chase down some idol or anything?" She made circular movements with her hand, obviously teasing.

"Uh-oh. I've been discovered." I widened my eyes and took a step back, acting like a criminal who had just been caught red-handed.

That earned me another laugh from Ji Min. She seemed to like laughing a lot. I smiled. I liked her already.

"Alright, break's over. Everybody come back!" The trainer called out, clapping his hands with a large, exaggerated motion.

Ji Min and I turned to each other and smiled, before we put down our bottles and went back into position.


	2. Chapter 2: Your Fault

After dance was vocal lessons, which consisted mainly of warm-ups and breathing exercises.

All in all, the day passed by quickly, and the sky was soon filled with a red and orange hue, signalling ahead of the clock that it was time to go home.

"All right everybody, be sure to practice your exercises!" The vocal trainer's voice was really loud. Probably an effect of all those vocal exercises.

We all shouted our acknowledgement - the vocal trainer, Yi Seonsaeng, was a lot nicer than the dance trainer - and our goodbyes.

To our surprise, she chuckled and shook her head.

"No, not goodbye yet. I have a surprise for you." She went over to the door and opened it wide enough for her head to go through, but not wide enough for us to see. "You can come in now." Her dyed blonde ponytail bobbed as she spoke. She drew her head back in, a mischievous smile eccentuating the angles of her sharp face.

Everybody stared at the door, full of anticipation. You could seriously hear a pin drop in this silence.

Well, until the people on the other side of the door walked in. In an instant, the silence was shattered, filled with surprised gasps, excited whispers and even muted squeals.

Who were they, you ask? Well, who else could they be but the faces of Cube Ent, our dear BEAST.

"Annyeong haseyo!" They walked in with the calm confidence of someone who practically owned the place. Doo Joon had a wide smile on his face, his large eyes glancing around at our faces as he waved with both hands. So Doo Joon. The other members smiled warmly and waved.

I attempted to hide myself behind Ji Min as Yo Seob's eyes searched the crowd.

Too late. My sudden movement generated the opposite effect of what I wanted, and his eyes fell on mine.

There was a brief moment of confusion in his eyes, as he wondered why a weird girl was trying so desperately to hide behind her friend. Then there was a flash of recognition, and a smile broke out on his face as his eyes twinkled with restrained laughter.

Discreetly, he pointed his index finger at me, and widened his eyes threateningly. Fortunately, the other trainees were too fixated on what Doo Joon was saying to pay much attention to him, since he was standing the furthest away.

Jun Hyung seemed to notice, however, and jabbed him in the ribs with his elbow. Ji Min noticed too. Unsurprisingly, really, considering the fact that I had pulled her to a semi-horizontal position in my not-so-discreet attempt to hide myself.

"What's he doing?" Ji Min asked, eyeing Yo Seob with a dubious, but amused, expression.

I quickly explained to her what had happened this afternoon. She bit her lip, as if trying not to laugh.

"Is that why he's wearing those ridiculous pants?"

I glanced over to Yo Seob again, flicking my eyes downwards to look at his pants. I couldn't see what was wrong with them, though. They were a bit baggy, yes, but...oh...I see.

On top of the excessive bagginess, the last 3 inches of the pants consisted of a thick band of rolled-up fabric. Still, the baggy trousers hung low over his sneakers, obviously too big for him.

"No, how is that related to me? I just knocked him down."

"Yeah, but it rained in the afternoon, right?"

"Oh yeah. Dang." If it rained, the entrance mat would have been wet. "And I think he was wearing white pants too."

Ji Min smothered another laugh. "Oh, you are so dead."

"Ji Min! Hae Won! Show some respect!" Yi Seonsaeng was glaring daggers at us.

Not only her, too. The entire room had gone quiet, and everybody was staring at the both of us. Some looked considerably miffed, and others were just downright pissed off. I didn't even dare to look at the BEAST members.

"Sorry." Ji Min and I murmured. Everybody's attention reverted to the front, and Gi Kwang started talking. Apparently Doo Joon had already finished speaking.

I slouched, trying to make myself as inconspicuous as possible, wishing that the ground would swallow me up. Such a crummy start to my life as a trainee.

I blamed this on Yang Yo Seob.


	3. Chapter 3: Sweet Dreams

"Mario! I'm so dead!" I cried to my rabbit as I flung open the door to my room.

Then closed the door nicely and locked it.

"Yeah, sure, greet the rabbit. Just pretend I'm not here." My roommate, Jae Eun, commented sarcastically, without bothering to turn her head from the open books on her desk.

I pretended to cry. "Jae Eun, I'm so dead. I completely embarassed myself today." I walked up to her chair, and flung my arms around her neck, strangling her. She made a gagging noise, and smacked my arm. I giggled and released her, sitting on the floor beside her chair.

"Well, that's nothing new, but what happened?" She giggled as she dodged a smack.

"Firstly, I knocked down Yang Yo Seob - " Jae Eun gasped. I rolled my eyes. "Not like that, I mean I knocked into him while running. I caused him to have to run around in ridiculously baggy trousers all day cuz his white pants were dirtied."

Jae Eun pursed her lips, but didn't say anything. "Mmhmm, go on."

I placed Mario (my rabbit) on my lap and stroked him. "Secondly, I was late for dance lessons. The trainer was soooo scary. You should have seen him. He said that he would kill me if I was late again."

"I told you to leave class early."

"But I hate leaving class early. It's so awkward." I pouted. "Well, I don't have a choice now anyway." I let Mario hop off my lap.

I went to the fridge and took out a carrot. "Thirdly, I got scolded by the vocal trainer too, for talking while BEAST was talking to us." I offered the carrot to Mario, who jumped on it and began nibbling excitedly.

"Well, you've gotta admit, that deserves a scolding."

"Jaeeeee Euuuuunnnnnnn..."

"What? It's true, right? I mean, they're so busy, and you don't even listen to what they say." She shook her head in disapproval, her face uncannily similar to that of our homeroom teacher.

"Hmph." I lay sprawled on the floor. "It's all Yo Seob's fault. He teased me and made Ji Min talk to me."

"Psh. Yeah r-wait, what? Yo Seob _teased_ you?" Jae Eun swung around, eyes wide behind her rectangular nerd spectacles, jaw practically dropping to the ground. Even a tendril of her jet black hair had escaped her immaculate bun, and was hanging loose beside her ear.

The combined effect of all this was unbearably funny, and I cutched my tummy while rolling around laughing.

Literally ROFL.

Jae Eun stumbled out of her chair to sit on the floor next to me, outside of my rolling area. "Stop that, Hae! He teased you?"

"Whooo..." I exhaled deeply. "Heh, yeah. He pointed at me and made mean faces." I mimicked Yo Seob's wide-eyed glare for her to see.

"Oh. Wow." She looked as if she was in a daze. "Hey, maybe he likes you! Maybe, both of you are going to fall in love with each other, just like in Korean dramas!" Jae Eun, who had come to Seoul to study drama, was just a tad too crazy about Korean dramas.

"Psh. Yeah, right, Jae. Call me when your brain is working, alright? I'm gonna go shower." I stood up and walked off, leaving Jae Eun on the floor, where she sat in a daze, staring into nowhere, a foolish smile stretched across her face.

Thanks to Jae Eun, I had dreams that night. Dreams about Yo Seob and I falling in love.

Oh no, this is not good. I'm gonna have to avoid him from now on.


	4. Chapter 4: Danger

Fortunately for me, I didn't run into Yo Seob for the next one and a half weeks, until rubbish picking day.

Oh, sorry, did I say rubbish picking? I meant community service. Which consisted of rubbish picking. Go figure.

Anyway, apparently our dear BEAST still tagged along every fortnight when the trainees went to do community service.

I found it very nice of them. No, really. It's just that I...well, to tell the truth, I didn't want them to go. With the trousers incident, and Jae Eun's imagination running in my head, running into Yang Yo Seob would be more awkwardness than I could handle.

Fortunately, though, they seemed to have run off somewhere before the trainees' briefing was done.

"I want all of you back here by 6.30. Is that clear?" Yeon Seonsaeng shouted, his voice whipped around by the sea breeze.

"Yes." We shouted with vigour. It was refreshing to be allowed outside during training hours. The earlier excitement had died off, and the studios of Cube Ent. were becoming unbearably boring.

The trainees dispersed, walking off in every direction with their own group of friends.

"They should have told us that we were going to the beach!" Go Rim whined as she picked her way through the fine sand barefoot, her heels hanging by the straps from her arm.

"Actually they did. It was on the trainee website. You didn't check, did you?" Ji Min chided with a teasing lilt.

"I did!" I raised my hand and jumped about excitedly.

"Well, that's painfully obvious..." Go Rim eyed my outfit with contempt. She probably meant it as a joke initially, but I could see her expression becoming more and more realistic as she stared at my outfit.

I was dressed casually. Very casually, with worn-out sneakers, frayed jeans, and an old blue t-shirt. I probably looked like somebody who worked at a gas station in some old, forsaken town. But seriously, who in their right mind would wear designer clothes to pick rubbish at a beach?

I told this to Go Rim, who looked offended.

Oops. It looks like I just found somebody not in her right mind.

"Sorry! I didn't know..." I conjured up my best apologetic face. Go Rim sighed.

"Well, anyway, I think we should split up. There doesn't seem to be a lot of rubbish on this beach, and if we do find any rubbish, how are we going to split it amongst the three of us?"

"Mm, I think so too." Ji Min agreed.

I looked at Go Rim with wide eyes, making my lower lip shiver for good measure. Ji Min giggled. Go Rim clicked her tongue and rolled her eyes.

"No, I seriously think that we will have trouble getting enough rubbish to please the trainers if we stick together. Stop that! I'm not angry at you."

"Yay!" I smiled brightly and gave her a crushing hug. Before she could say anything I pointed to the far end of the beach and said, "I'm going that way," then ran off as quickly as possible.

If only I had seen where I was pointing to before I ran off.

In my excitement, I had run all the way to the far end of the beach before I realised what I was facing.

A muddy, dirty, marshy area with mangrove trees, their prop roots zig-zagging all over the place, a death penalty for all who did not look before they walked.

Someone like me.

I turned back to look at my two friends. They were still standing where they were just now, cackling madly. Ji Min was bent double, while Go Rim's hand covered her mouth daintily. The sea breeze carried their laughter over the distance between us.

I narrowed my eyes at them, and turned to walk back, but Go Rim cupped her hands to her mouth and shouted.

"If you come back here I'll pay you back for the hug."

Oh dear. That was scary.

Well, not really, but I'd still rather avoid it. Besides, what's so scary about mud?

And, well, klutz-killing prop roots, but nevermind.

I took my first step into the muddy marsh, feeling the mud squelch sickeningly as it engulfed my sneakers. The sea breeze carried another wave of mad laughter to me. My foot stopped sinking as the mud reached my ankles, and I took another step forward.

And another.

And another.

I don't really think you want to hear me describing every single step I took, so I'll cut to the chase.

There was lots of rubbish caught in the roots of the mangroves! My heart fluttered gleefully as my bag grew heavier and heavier, although much of the weight probably consisted of mud and muddy water that was caught in the bits of rubbish.

Anyway, I was so going to beat Go Rim and Ji Min.

God must have wanted to punish me for thinking evil thoughts, because just then, I tripped over a low root I wasn't aware off, and fell face-first, hitting my forehead on a rock.

I fainted, of course.


End file.
